[January 18, 2002]ARTS and IXRetail Release XML Price and Digital Receipt Schemas for Retail Industry. January 2002 announcements from the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) and the International XML Retail Cooperative (IXRetail) describe the release of new XML schemas for use by retailers. The IXRetail digital receipt XML schema "provides retailers the ability to create, deliver and archive digital receipts using in-store point-of-sale transaction data. The digital receipt is an electronic purchase verification that can be issued by retailers, financial institutions or any other industry that provides consumers proof of purchase. Development of the IXRetail digital receipt standard represents a two-year effort by retail and technology industry leaders through the Digital Receipt Alliance (Office Depot, Home Depot, VISA, NCR, HP-Verifone, Intuit, Microsoft, American Online, and Valicert)." ARTS and IXRetail also released XML-based price schemas for public review and input from retailers. Other IXRetail XML schemas for Transaction Log, Stored Value, Inventory, Remote Equipment Monitoring, and Payment will be released later in 2002. The price schemas are being piloted by Longs Drugs; they are "part of a comprehensive XML data model being developed by ARTS, and are designed to allow retailers to deliver consistent and accurate real-time pricing information to virtually any requesting device -- including hand held units, web sites, phones, and kiosks. The price schemas being piloted are based on the ARTS Data Model and use the ARTS XML Data Dictionary of more than 3,000 standard XML data tags, definitions and codes." [Full context]

[January 09, 2001] A January 2001 announcement from the Association of Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) describes a "public demonstration of the new IXRetail standard using XML to connect various applications from different vendors across multiple platforms. Convention attendees will see XML connect POS (Point Of Service) to Price Management and Inventory including transactions from RF, wireless and the Internet. The XML messages will build on the work of ActiveStore schemas and use the new ARTS XML Data Dictionary. ARTS, in cooperation with ActiveStore, has developed Extensible Markup Language (XML) messages to interface systems within the retail enterprise. The UCC has been working with VICS, ECR Europe and the Global Commerce Initiative to develop a merchandise classification standard focused on business-to-business operations. The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) of the National Retail Federation is a retailer-driven membership organization dedicated to creating an open environment where both retailers and technology vendors work together to create international retail technology standards. ARTS has two standards embraced by the retail industry around the world: (1) Standard Retail Data Model, and (2) Unified POS. These standards have been created through a cooperative effort of retailers and software solution providers to reduce the time and cost of implementing technology within the retailing industry. The National Retail Federation has been developing the Product Attribute System (PAS) for the past nine months, which is designed to assist consumers in quickly identifying and locating merchandise on the Internet. PAS is intended to be an industry guideline, rather than a standard. The UCC and NRF have identified initial areas for joint activity and cooperation. In September [2000], ARTS and IXRetail moved a significant portion of the Data Model into the public domain as an XML Data Dictionary for use in creating XML messages. ARTS and the UCC will meet to explore the possibility of creating a common data dictionary to support the retail industry processes on the global level." The IXRetail standard under development is a "cooperative effort of the Association for Retail Technology (ARTS), which is a division of the NRF, and ActiveStore, a Microsoft-led standards initiative."

National Retail Federation "NRF's mission is to conduct programs and services in research, education, training, information technology, and government affairs to protect and advance the interests of the retail industry. NRF's membership includes the leading department, specialty, independent, discount, and mass merchandise stores in the United States and 50 nations around the world. NRF represents more than 100 state, national and international trade organizations, which have members in most lines of retailing..."

Data Model RFC version 2.1 - "Version 2.1 was released with new logical names and first forecourt extension is now available to members. The Model was converted to an XML Dictionary is available in a public version for all to use in creating XML messages.

[January 10, 2003] "Retail Vendors Stand Behind ARTS Standards. Collaborative Effort Demonstrates Cost-Saving Power of IXRetail and UnifiedPOS." - "The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) will demonstrate the interoperability benefits of IXRetail and UnifiedPOS at the National Retail Federation's 92nd Annual Convention & EXPO, January 12-15, 2003 in New York City. ARTS, a division of the NRF dedicated to creating a barrier-free retail technology environment, will host a pavilion in which retailers can see offerings from a mix of vendors who are dedicated to helping retailers reduce costs by adhering to retail technology standards. The pavilion will also feature other cooperating standards associations that have produced tangible benefits for retailers. The first implementation of POSlog, the standard TLOG for integrating POS to a myriad of related applications, will be previewed in the pavilion as well. ARTS has developed three standards embraced by the retail industry around the world: (1) Standard Retail Data Model, supporting all retail applications; (2) UnifiedPOS, a detailed, specification for point-of-sale device interfaces; and (3) IXRetail, which provides standard XML schemas to interface applications within the retail enterprise. These standards have been developed through the cooperative efforts of retailers and hardware and software solution providers to reduce the time and cost of implementing retail technology from multiple vendors... The newest IXRetail standard, the XML schema, POSlog, (standard TLOG), is the data captured at the point of service, including sales, returns, exchanges, deliveries and customer information. POSlog will reduce the time and cost of integrating POS systems with related applications, such as ERP, inventory, fraud analysis, customer purchase history, big ticket, etc. 'The point-of-sale is the most critical system in retail,' said Grant Anderson, director of store systems and networks at Garden Ridge. 'We feel strongly about POSlog because it will allow us to integrate POS data with our enterprise at a lower cost without jeopardizing accuracy or reliability.' Retailers will have the opportunity to see the ease of integrating with POSlog and learn how it can lower technology costs in the ARTS pavilion..."

[January 09, 2002] "Real-World XML Schema. Good Naming Conventions Extend Beyond Retail." By Paul Golick (Programmer, IBM) and Richard Mader (Executive Director, ARTS). From IBM developerWorks XML Zone. January 2002. ['This article presents a set of 17 broadly applicable practices for using XML. These practices were published by the Association for Retail Technology Standards to aid its development of standardized XML messages for exchange between information technology systems that support retail stores.'] "Does your industry provide a set of best practices for XML Schema to streamline industrywide data integration? If not, perhaps it should follow retail's lead. Since 1993, the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) of the National Retail Federation (NRF) has been developing a standard data model to help retailers integrate applications and interface point-of-sale (POS) data more easily. The International XML Retail Cooperative (IXRetail) is the ARTS committee that is standardizing XML messages for exchange between IT systems that support retail stores. IXRetail has adapted names and definitions from the ARTS Data Model standard for use in XML messages. IXRetail has also worked on standardizing other aspects of XML technology across the retail industry and among its vendors... XML provides the format for identifying information that applications need, but does not assure that the information needed by the recipient is provided. However, XML provides formatting structures that help obtain this assurance. The XML Schema language elaborates on XML and related specifications to provide a flexible way to describe a shared vocabulary of names that can be used to mark up XML documents. By using a shared schema, applications can use validating parsers to assure that appropriate information is sent or received. IXRetail has chosen XML because of the universal applicability of XML to structured document and data exchange on the Web... The goal of these guidelines is to assist development of standardized XML schemas. Fundamental features include choosing names for descriptive value and continuity with prior industry standards, using local naming to keep message sizes reasonable, and planning for change. We hope that you find some of our results applicable to your needs... This article was initially prepared for publication in two installments in NRF's STORES Magazine..."

"Cooperation Can Help Clear Up Confusion Over XML Standards." By Richard E. Mader (ARTS, Executive Director). In Stores Magazine. December 2001. "... A critical first step is to have all initiatives adopt and expand the ARTS XML Data Dictionary as the data definitions for all retail-related XML messages... At the NRF 91st Annual Convention in New York, ARTS in cooperation with other XML standards initiatives will present the International Standards Forum. The forum will: (1) Present the mission and current status of the activities of each participating organization.(2) Document a road map for XML cooperation, including how retail systems within the enterprise must link with global commerce initiatives to allow retailers to participate in web procurement without the time and expense of installing new internal systems. (3) Address audience questions and solicit requirements for inclusion in developing standards. (4) Demonstrate XML-based standards ready for adoption and use..."

"Convention Forum Highlights International Standards Cooperation." By Richard E. Mader (ARTS, Executive Director). In Stores Magazine. January 2002. "... ARTS will hold three milestone events at the Big Show... At its booth on the EXPO floor, ARTS will demonstrate UnifiedPOS, the POS device interface standard, and IXRetail XML schemas."

[January 14-17, 2001] ARTS-IXRetail XML Event at NRF Annual Convention. "ARTS activities planned for the National Retail Federation Annual Convention at the Javits Center, New York City January 14 - 17, 2001 include: (1) Sunday January 14 at 1:00 - 3:15 in Room IE-16 will be the first public demonstration of the new IXRetail standard using XML to connect various applications from different vendors across multiple platforms. You will see XML connect POS to Price Management and Inventory including transactions from RF, wireless and the Internet. The XML messages will build on the work of ActiveStore schemas and use the new ARTS XML Data Dictionary. Retailers including The Limited and Nordstrom will speak to the importance of XML and associated standards. (1) Monday January 15 at 2:00 - 3:30 in Room IE-08 is the ARTS Member meeting. This is your chance to tell the Board what standards you need to more effectively operate your business. What devices should be included in the UnifiedPOS specification, what new business functions and supporting data should be added to the Data Model, and in what areas should IXRetail focus it's XML message development? A full report on activities completed in 2000 will be provided. Members and prospective members are welcome to attend."

[January 09, 2001] "NRF Convention to be Forum for First Retail XML Demonstration. IXRetail Cooperative Shows Proof Behind Theory." - "January's National Retail Federation (NRF) Annual Convention and EXPO will be the venue of the first public IXRetail demonstration using Extensible Markup Language (XML) messaging to exchange data between in-store applications on different platforms. XML, a text-based markup language, is quickly becoming the standard for data interchange on the Web. A cooperative effort of the Association for Retail Technology (ARTS), which is a division of the NRF, and ActiveStore, a Microsoft-led standards initiative, has factored this technology into the creation of a set of standard XML messages for a range of retail applications and functions -- an initiative known as IXRetail. These standard messages would go a long way toward creating the type of plug-and-play, platform-independent, vendor-neutral environment that would give retailers the widest choice of applications and ultimately reduce their costs and increase their operational efficiency. 'Multi-channel retailing absolutely requires an integrated enterprise to ensure a consistent experience for customers across all channels,' said Jerry Rightmer, chair of the IXRetail process committee and CTO of 360Commerce. 'You cannot be effective in a business-to-consumer or business-to-business environment if you have not integrated your own enterprise.' At the NRF conference, participants will be able to see first-hand the actual application and benefits of XML. The free demonstration will include presentations from innovative retailers such as Jeannine Ralston, vice president of store systems at The Limited and Alice Cain Nelson, Nordstrom's information architect. In addition, demonstrations on price, point-of-sale and inventory scenarios will be given by leading industry software developers 360Commerce, ACCESS, Microsoft and PCMS Datafit. 'Creating the demonstration proved to be an eye-opener in terms of the ease and flexibility of XML to exchange data, even to our dedicated team of vendors,' said Richard Mader, executive director of ARTS. Eight different vendor applications were able to be linked within a matter of days, according to Mader. The IXRetail workshop will be held on Jan. 14, 2001 at the NRF Annual Conference. The event is underwritten by sponsors 360Commerce, ACCESS, Blue Martini, Microsoft, SofTechnics and PCMS Datafit."

[January 09, 2001] "XML-based retail applications moving closer to reality." By Carol Sliwa. In ComputerWorld (January 08, 2001). "Retailers will get a potential glimpse of the IT future next Sunday at a conference in New York, when the National Retail Federation (NRF) and a group of software vendors demonstrate XML-based technology for use in updating store inventories and running price checks. Point-of-sale terminals, Web applications, and handheld devices will be shown communicating with back-office servers for real-time price checks and inventory updates that will be sent via XML messages, said Richard Mader, executive director of the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) division at the Washington-based NRF. In cooperation with Microsoft Corp.'s ActiveStore standards group, the ARTS unit has created a set of XML schemas designed to help information flow between point-of-sale devices and various back-end systems. So far, their joint initiative, called IXRetail, has concentrated on schema for pricing and inventory that Mader said should be ready for actual use in the second quarter. For next weekend's upcoming demonstration, Microsoft has also built a price server to show how XML could be used to send pricing changes to point-of-sale devices on the fly, Mader said. The demo is scheduled to take place as part of the NRF annual conference, which starts Sunday in New York. The National Retail Federation and a group of software vendors plan to demonstrate in-store applications that use XML messaging at a conference next weekend, setting the stage for a planned release of the technology in the spring..."

[December 5, 2000] National Retail Federation And Uniform Code Council Agree To Cooperate On Retail Standards And Other Initiatives." - "The National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Uniform Code Council, Inc. (UCC) today announced plans for future cooperation and communication on standards issues in order to bring improved efficiency to the retail industry. The Uniform Code Council, recognized as one of the world's leading global standards organizations, brings over 25 years of global, multi-industry experience to this cooperative effort. The UCC has brought greater supply chain efficiency to 23 major industries through the standards and solutions offered by the EAN7UCC System. This system provides a multi-industry, 'global language of business' for over 850,000 member companies doing business in 140 countries around the world. The National Retail Federation, the world's largest retail trade association, has been committed to advancing the interests of retailers in North America and more than 50 countries around the world. NRF represents all aspects of the retail industry, from department stores and specialty retailers to distribution channels. In 1999, NRF acquired the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) as its standards making division to help lower technology costs across the retail industry. Under this cooperative agreement, NRF and the UCC will establish ongoing communications to ensure that there will not be overlap or duplication of activities between the two organizations... In electronic commerce, the UCC has been working with EAN International to develop EAN7UCC draft XML schemas for use in global B2B trade. These standards have been endorsed by the Global Commerce Initiative (GCI) and the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards (VICS) Association and are in pilot use by UCCnet. ARTS, in cooperation with ActiveStore, has developed eXtensible Markup Language (XML) messages to interface systems within the retail enterprise. The UCC has been working with VICS, ECR Europe and the Global Commerce Initiative to develop a merchandise classification standard focused on business-to-business operations. NRF has been developing the Product Attribute System (PAS) for the past six months, which is designed to assist consumers in quickly identifying and locating merchandise on the Internet. PAS is intended to be an industry guideline, rather than a standard. The UCC and NRF have identified initial areas for joint activity and cooperation. In September, ARTS and IXRetail moved a significant portion of the Data Model into the public domain as an XML Data Dictionary for use in creating XML messages. ARTS and the UCC will meet to explore the possibility of creating a common data dictionary to support the retail industry processes on the global level."

[September 24, 2000] ARTS Workshop. September 24 - 27, 2000. San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California "Future Retailing Will Depend on XML - Are You Ready?" This ARTS XML educational event will feature Horace Clemmons former of PSI and one of the founders of ARTS as the keynote speaker. Mr. Clemmons, COO of Advanced Construction Technology, will speak on "The past and future of retail technology." A panel of expert from our sponsors will provide a management level overview of what is XML, how to use it effectively to reduce the cost of interfacing systems and their company's committed to XML. Retailers will present success stories on their use of XML and provide cost to companies to historical methods. You will certainly want to hear how Marks and Spencer is using XML for real-time interfacing of applications to POS. ARTS and ActiveStore have joined forces to develop standard XML messages to integrate systems within the retail enterprise international XML Retail Cooperative (IXRetail). Learn how this is different from other XML initiative and its value proposition for all retailers, including the announcement of the IXRetail XML Standard Data Dictionary."

[January 18, 2000] "Dayton technology group accepts proposed retail e-commerce standard." - "ARTS, the Association for Retail Technology Standards, has formally accepted a proposed XML-based standard for delivering receipts over the Internet. An innovation that will soon bring proof of purchase to your PC, the Digital Receipt is a product of the Digital Receipt Alliance, which was formed and led by Dayton-headquartered NCR Corp. Other members of the Dayton-based alliance include America Online and Microsoft. The receipt is an Internet version of the traditional paper receipt, and can be delivered via e-mail or a Web site database. Deliverable for in-store and online purchases, Digital Receipts can also allow purchase data to be downloaded into personal finance, tax or accounting applications..."

[June 06, 2000] "Microsoft's ActiveStore initiative continues to progress in the retail industry. ActiveStore initiative grows rapidly through the availability of 'plug and play' standards for retail applications (RBIs), ActiveStore platform services and collaboration with industry standards bodies." - "Today at Retail Solutions 2000 Conference and Exhibition, Microsoft announced that ActiveStore, Microsoft's initiative to reduce the cost, time and risk associated with integrating and deploying line-of-business solutions in the retail enterprise, has continued to make significant developments within the European retail industry. Based on the work of ActiveStore teams throughout Europe, the US and Japan, the initiative is enabling the retail sector to become one of the most innovative and efficient industries today... The collaboration with other established retail industry standard initiatives has also been a significant factor in the development of ActiveStore. The alliance between ActiveStore with the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) known as IxRetail, will enable the development of a single infrastructure that will be operating-system-independent and language neutral. All messages will conform to the common infrastructure, and the data described within each XML message will be defined in a single data repository maintained by ARTS. This repository will initially be created from the ARTS Data Model, which will be expanded as new data requirements are discovered. It is the intention of ARTS to make this data repository available to all interested parties, free of any royalty or fee."

Misc. Clippings: (1) "IX Retail: The ARTS International XML for Retail (IXRetail) initiative builds on the ARTS Data Model and is designed to ease computer-to-computer communications, within a retail enterprise and with external trading partners." (2) "Association of Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) has created standards for Retail transactions in XML format. 'By creating a standard names dictionary, ARTS and IXRetail is providing the retail industry a foundation for creating standard XML messages that can be universally interpreted,' said Richard Mader, executive director of ARTS."

[September 28, 1999] ARTS to organize Retail Enterprise Data in XML (REDX) Initiative - "In an effort to help revolutionize the way retailers do business, the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), has announced that it will organize REDX, an industry wide effort to define and apply XML tags to all elements of the ARTS Retail Data Model and to define a series of universal XML messages to enable the rapid cost-effective integration of store and enterprise applications. The Retail Enterprise Data in XML (REDX) initiative will create a single open XML-based standard against which vendors could be certified as compliant. Given the numerous nascent efforts to develop an XML standard for retail data interchange currently underway in the industry and the comprehensive nature of the ARTS Retail Data Model, a single industry-wide standard spearheaded by ARTS has the potential to save countless hours of development time and significant financial resources. "Leveraging the Intellectual Property value of the ARTS Retail Data Model, by offering it as the baseline for REDX is the logical extension of the ARTS mission," said Richard Mader, Executive Director of ARTS. "Working with groups like NACS and NACDS, as well as others across the retail industry throughout world, ensures that REDX will be not only a comprehensive initiative, but one that brings together all segments of the industry behind a single standard that will save both time and money." XML is a text-based markup language that is fast becoming the standard for data interchange on the web. The use of this XML based data model will help retailers in a variety of ways..."